Review of PSA 20" AR (lots of pics!)

[henschman]

I recently completed my AR build, using the stripped lower I bought from Palmetto State Armory several months ago during one of their periodic sales. I put her together last week, and got a chance to do a little shooting over the weekend.

The upper is what PSA sells as their PSA 20" 5.56 1/7 CMV Chrome-lined MP HPT Upper. The barrel is gov't-profile, and is made for PSA by FN. It has 1/7 twist, chrome lining, and is magnetic particle inspected and high pressure tested. The upper has M-4 feed ramps, even though it is a rifle length barrel/gas system... I guess can't hurt! I ordered it with Magpul MOE rifle-length handguards in flat dark earth. The upper came in a cardboard foam-lined rifle case with the PSA logo on it.

The stock is a Magpul CTR, on a PSA 6-position buffer tube kit. The lower parts kit is what PSA sells as the Palmetto State Armory Gen 2 MOE LPK, which is their standard LPK with a Magpul MOE grip and winter trigger guard.

The rear sight is a KAC 2-600m model I have had for a while (which I love). The sling is just a GI leather sling I had sitting around. I will eventually mount a 2-point tactical sling, as soon as I order some mounting hardware for the handguard. I also ordred 7 D&H mags in FDE from PSA along with everything else. They had the best price I have seen on them, at $11.99 each. They have Magpul followers, and floorplates that have PSA's logo on them.

According to my scale, the rifle weighs 7 lbs. unloaded. It balances quite nicely with the gov't-profile barrel. I like the collapsible stock on the 20" rifle. However, I wish the stock adjusted a little longer. At maximum length, the charging handle is at the base of my nose, up against my face, instead of at the tip of my nose when I am all turkey-necked out on it. The total cost of putting the rifle together, including shipping and the $10 transfer fee on the lower, was $753.79.

I took it to the range over the weekend, and zeroed it at 25m. The front sight had to come down quite a bit to get it to zero... I made 7 clicks down, which nearly bottomed it out. The front sight was also very stiff to adjust. It wouldn't move with just a bullet tip... I had to turn it with needle nose pliers. I had to take the rear sight 14 clicks right of center.

I was very satisfied with the way the rifle shot, and with its accuracy. I included a pic of my zeroing target. All groups were shot from prone with a sling at 25m, with Winchester 55 grain ammo. I experienced no malfunctions.

Here are the pics:

 

[nathan]

I like the set up . I also was wondering if the Daniel Defense fixed rear sight be okey to use on long 20 inch barrel or its only applicable to M4 type carbines? Sounds like a stupid question but anything difference on the sight height ? Since F marked front sight is for carbine type barrel length s and non F on standard 20 inchers.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=XDD11002

 

[Snowdog]

That is a nice set-up. That's the configuration I almost went with (before opting for a 16" mid-length) and I'm sure I would have been plenty happy with it as well. PSA currently seems to be an excellent option for someone wanting quality on the cheap.

 

[henschman]

nathan, an F-marked front sight is not just for carbines... it is for any AR with a flat-top upper receiver (which is what the "F" stands for). The M-16A3s (which are a 20" barrel with a flat top) use F-marked FSBs too. The reason the F marked FSB's have to be taller is because the carry handle rear sight also sits a little bit higher than a fixed carry handle sight.

Incidentally, it is the same reason the carry handle sights have to have the "Z" mark for 25m zeroing 1 MOA above the 300m setting on the rear sight's elevation drum, whereas on the fixed handle versions, the 25m zero is the same as the 300m zero: having the sights higher above the bore makes the rifle "lob" the bullet up in a higher arc when zeroed at 25m.

All the after-market sights that attach to flat-tops are designed to have the same height as the factory carry handle.

So yes, the DD rear sight would work fine on either a flat-top rifle, or a flat-top carbine.

Thanks Snowdog. I will probably end up buying a carbine from them as well before too long. I don't imagine their prices will stay this low forever. I'm guessing they are just setting them this low because they are a new brand, and want to get their foot in the door. I just need to decide between a 14.5" carbine length gas, or a 16" mid-length gas (and if the mid-length, whether mid-length handguards, or dissipator)!

 

[JustinJ]

Two questions:

The barrel is gov't-profile, and is made for PSA by FN.

How do you know?

Second. Why are there M4 feed ramps with a rifle length gas system? Assuming FN did make the barrel I would assume that is not their barrel extension by the M4 feedramps. To my knowledge M16s are not built with M4 feed ramps.

 

[henschman]

Justin, the info on the maker of the barrel is in this ar15.com thread: http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=2&f=301&t=208953

As for why they put an upper and barrel extension with M4 feed ramps on a 20" rifle, I can only assume that PSA wanted to use the same parts across all of their rifles, of every barrel and gas system length. Having M4 feed ramps on a 20" may not exactly be necessary, but it sure doesn't hurt anything.

 

[Gtscotty]

That's pretty cool, I didn't realize that the non CHF marked 20" PSA upper had an FN barrel. That exact upper (down to the hand guard color) has been on my list for my upcoming 20" AR-15 build for a couple months. If you ever have a chance to shoot some scoped 100 yd groups, I'd be really interested to see what the barrel is capable of...

The collapsible stock looks good on your rifle, I think i'm going to put one of these bad boys on mine:

http://store.magpul.com/product/MAG404/181

The nice lady at Magpul said they should be rolling out in the June-ish time frame, I guess we'll see.

Thanks for sharing, and good luck with your new build!

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Very nice looking rifle!

I thought the M4 feed ramps were for improved feed reliability? Technically, in full auto fire however. Either way, the extended feed ramps have become expected in the marketplace for any "serious" AR. Most likely, since it is something so many people look for, it is easier for manufacturers to simply set up their machining process for M4 ramps on all receivers/barrels.

BTW: Looking at your target, I see a need for a bit of practice with breathing control, and better trigger control on the bottom left square.

 

[henschman]

Yeah, the lower left was my first group, and was actually fired on the center square... That's how far off my sights were. I was still kinda figuring out the feel of the trigger on that group, and actually called them that way. I made my sight correction, which as you can see got me pretty close when I fired on the center square again. I backed it off 1 MOA on elevation for the upper two squares. I think my vertical stringing on the last three was due to not having the exact same 6 o'clock hold from shot to shot. I think I might have been holding into the targets a little on some of those. As an M1A owner, I am used to both a better trigger and narrower front sight than this rifle has... the square was kind of getting lost on top of that big fat post! I think I might benefit from zeroing it with a "shred of daylight" 6 o'clock hold, like I use on my AK. In any case, I expect it is actually capable of a little better groups than what I did with it, and I'm sure I will do better with practice. I would say if you bring in the vertical displacement on those last 3 groups, that is more like what the rifle is actually capable of.

I realize those groups aren't perfect, but thought I'd throw them up for better or worse for my review (I hate reviews where they shoot all day and only post the best group they got out of the bunch). And I wasn't too embarrassed with sub-3 MOA groups, since figure I could still ruin a dude's day out to 600m or so with that kind of shooting.

Gtscotty, I will probably end up putting a 1-4x scope on this thing, and if I ever happen to shoot any 100 yard groups with it, I will post them up too.